Research as an essentiality beyond one’s own competence: an interview study on frail older people's view of research

Abstract

Plain English summary It is essential to the make voices of frail older people heard in research. Therefore, there is a growing interest to find ways to involve this group. However, to involve them in research is perceived as challenging for many researchers and frail older people might be excluded without acceptable reasons for exclusion. For frail older people to be involved in research processes, researchers must understand older peoples views, how to engage them and how to make research more inclusive. We therefore interviewed seventeen frail older people about their view of research, i.e., we asked questions on what research is and what it means for them. We found that research is viewed as important and necessary for societal development, but also as a something that is difficult to understand for the interviewed group. The participants did not feel competent or responsible for conducting research, and they respected researchers who they viewed as a group with great knowledge. Another pattern in the interviews was that the participants viewed research on frail older people’s everyday issues as important, and that this was an area where they could contribute. What we can learn from these descriptions is that it is important to strive for collaboration that attends to the different experiences and needs of frail older people and support them to understand research findings and make their voices heard in an allowing research environment.

Keywords

• Frail older people
• Patient and public involvement
• Research
• User involvement